was night. It was the
"Valley of the Eye."

Yes; and there was the "Eye" itself--gleaming out of the darkness,
seeming to transfix him with the cold stare of a basilisk. Somehow he
felt no exaltation on having gained the place--no triumph over treasure
trove. Instead of putting forth his efforts to reach the shining stone,
his chief desire was to flee from the spot. But he could not--he was
rooted to the ground, shivering, trembling, with a chill shrinking of
mortal dread. Nearer, nearer, drew that gleaming Eye, and, lo! beside
it flashed forth another. There were two--a pair of eyes. Then before
them came shadowy hands holding a bow. It was drawn. It was pointed
full at him. Still he could not move. The poisoned arrows. Oh,
Heaven!

The string twanged. With a shrill hiss the arrow sped--the poisoned
arrow. A loud hiss, a deafening hiss, and, lo! the gloom of the valley
was lighted up with a blinding glare, and--

"Close shave that, old chap!" said a voice.

The spell was broken--broken by that well-known voice. Starting up in
his bed, bathed in the sweat of deadly horror, Sellon beheld a strange
sight.

The room _was_ lighted up with a blinding glare. In the middle of it
stood Renshaw Fanning, holding up a huge snake by the tail. The reptile
was quite dead, its head shattered by the hard oaken table, but its
hideous length was still undulating with a convulsive writhe. The glare
was the result of a continuous succession of vivid lightning flashes.
Just then a mighty rolling peal of thunder shook the house, making the
doors and windows rattle like castanets. Then followed pitch darkness.

"Strike a light, if you have any handy, but don't come too near me in
the dark," said Renshaw. "This joker's fangs may still be of some
account, albeit he's stone dead."

As though still dreaming, Sellon obeyed.

"What the very deuce is the meaning of it all?" he said, as by the light
of the candle he sat surveying the situation.

"Only this--that you were as near passing on your checks as you ever
will be," was the reply, "And you may thank this thunderstorm for it
that you didn't. The thunder awoke me at once, though it didn't you,
and of course I went outside to look at the weather. Then, by the glare
of a flash of lightning, I spotted this brute. He was lying bang across
both your legs, with his head against the wall. The flash lasted just
long enough for me to lay hold of his tail, and I knew the